Republic of Starongia
The Republic of Starongia is a small, landlocked country located south of the United Principalities of Falstadt and east of the Vinnish sea, whilst sharing its western border with the People's Republic of Transafricasiana and with a arid/ desert nation/ city to its immediate south. The nation contains two main ethnic groups the first of which being the Starovi-speaking Starongazniki (STAR-ronguard-neekee) of the northwestern most provinces and the far more numerable English-speaking Starongian (Star-rongian.) This combined with a mild climate, high number of banks and over a century of military neutrality have lead many political commentators and journalists to describe Starongia as the continent's Switzerland, though with significantly less hills. History Little is known about Starongia prior to the founding of the 13th century kingdom, archaeological evidence suggests that nomadic first arrived sometime in the 12th century BC although the first settlements wouldn't be seen until around 300BC, these were mostly small villages of no more than 50-100 people. Digs in modern day Kaer Adagan, Amon and the northern valleys have revealed ruined cities spectacular in scale, though is known about the civilization which created them, their language is completely alien to anything seen on the continent both then and since despite objects bearing their markings being found as far away as Yoathl, making their rise, dominance and disappearance highly intriguing. Kingdom (1263-1638) To most Starongians their nation was born with the 1246 Nuistrost transcontinental expedition which aimed to find and settle the west coast of the continent and transform the tiny, riverine-bound kingdom of Fausta into an empire greater than anything the continent had ever seen. Lead by the famed explorer; Slavoslan Nuistrost, the expedition took nearly 2 years to cross the continent before arriving at the confluence of the Staro-Vikoroo Rivers where upon they established the western capital; Kaer Adagan, constructing the uniquely triangular-shaped fortifications seen today. Nuistrost and several hundred other settlers continued to journey onto the coast; many residents of the modern day Vinlandic Coastal Confederacy can trace their ancestors to these adventurers. The remainder stayed in the Staro river basin, eventually being granted autonomy by royal charter in October 1263 with the second-born duke Linneikron DeGlean crowned as the first King of Starongia. Geographical isolation and the failure of subsequent expeditions quickly resulted in Sarongia becoming it's own de facto independent kingdom. Forging alliances with the long-established principalities of the north and launching increasingly ambitious campaigns against the nomads of the south and Vinlandic coastal raiders. Over 4 centuries the kingdom became increasingly powerful, outproducing, out competing and out breeding their still largely tribal neighbors, still Starogia's nobles desired more and begun increasingly pressuring the new king; Ratovik III to further expand the boarders north. His army bolstered by foreign mercenaries and brandishing newly acquired matchlock muskets the king invaded the technologically inferior and politically disunited Falstadtic princedoms, toppling them in rapid succession. At the end of a grueling 16 month campaign, the young king marched triumphantly into the final Falstadtic- ruled city state of Falena, a hastily arranged ceremony crowing him 'Emperor' of both Falstadt and Starognia. Empire (1638-1868) Starongia continued to experience strong territorial expansion throughout the remainder of the 17th century, eventually conquering all the land which is presently shared by the modern day nations of your city, Vinland (Kingdom & VCR) and Falstadt. This golden age however was comparatively short-lived as Kaer Adagan quickly ran into difficulties in maintaining such a large empire with a rather puny population and a backwards and largely medieval economy and society. In response to this the monarchy formed a pact with the great 18th century European empires, granting them vast tracts of newly acquired and sparsely populated land in the south for colonization in return for technology and a cut of the colony's resources, by the end of the 19th century the number of citizens of British descent alone greatly outnumber the native Starongazniki. Despite this however, the empire could ultimately only push their collapse forward by another century, starting from 1850 the occupied territories in the far north begun the launch violent separatist struggles against the central government which not only weakened the position of the Emperor at home but also allowed the foreign empires to push greater and greater demands for territory, control and resources upon the beleaguered nation. Between 1858- 1863, your city (Jan. 1858), Kingdom of Vinland (Sep. 1858), & United Falstadt (1863) all gained independence, expelling Starongian troops, landowners and regular civilians from their land, triggering a refugee crisis felt as far south as the British-colonial capital; Great Havilland. The only remaining significant assets north of the Staro valley being a few, isolated petty kingdoms ruled by the descendants of house DeGlean and therefore hesitant to unite with Falstadt. The Starongian empire managed to limp on as a rump state until 1868 when the relatively sparsely populated and heavily Vinlandic influenced coastal region broke off to form the Vinnish Coastal Republic, nearly rendering the nation landlocked if not for the purchase of the 10km-wide Haalum inlet from the Dutch the year prior. This served to confirm of the longheld views of British and Starongazniki aristocrats that for the sake of Starongia's continued survival the emperor must be removed. On the night of the 6th December 1868, simultaneous military coups took place across the country, deposing the final emperor; Minanios II, sparking a minor firefight between loyalists and rebels in Hierarch Square in Kaer Adagan's city center though this didn't escalate into a full scale civil war as feared by some military officers in the days prior. In Great Havilland, the following morning John Pilkington; the British colonial governor, declared the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a new British-aligned Republic with its capital to be relocated to Great Havilland. Republic (1868-) Backed by the largest empire the world has ever known, Pilkington's administration was able to prevent Starongia further fragmenting and by 1880 the situation had sufficiently improved to the extent to which the Republic begun to take greater control over its own diplomatic and domestic affairs; the British having little interest in owning a tiny backwater of a state located far from other, richer lands. A new constitution was drafted in 1902 which granted equal rights to all Starongia's citizens, regardless of ethnicity or economic situation whilst the state itself confirmed its stance of diplomatic neutrality; a tradition which they've continued to the present day. The latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries saw the country experience rapid industrialization and urbanization, with the length of railway track alone going from under 100km in 1868 to 3000km by the end of the century. Today the state is highly urbanized with the majority of the population being concentrated into the Great Havilland and Amon - Kaer Adagan metropolitan regions respectively, aided by the nation's abundance of railway infrastructure allowing for the waves of sub-urbanization experienced during the 20th/21st centuries. Foreign Relations Starongian foreign policy still remain relatively mixed, in the case of Starongia - VCR and Starongonia - Falstadt relations could be best described as cordial with visa-free trade agreements and implicate deals to provide military assistance and break neutrality should either member be attacked by a foreign power enforced since the 1960's. The situation with the People's Republic of Transafricasiana remains just as complicated as it was in 1919 when the self-proclaimed 'Nativist, Workers State' burst onto the scene out of the husks of the former central continental kingdoms, empires and petty kingdoms. Relations between the two haven't always been negative, during the Second Continental war Starongia allowed the P.R.T's air force to train airmen and paratroopers within it's territory, safe from Ferrite & Xylvanian bombing in exchange for locomotives, trucks and modern manufacturing equipment. The state's declared objective to unite the entire continent under a single flag through bullying, manipulating and annexing its smaller neighbors, has lead to several instances of heightened tensions in the past and is considered widely responsible for the decision to maintain a standing army and manufacturer of heavy weapons; including tanks, armored vehicles, helicopters and light attack aircraft despite being officially neutral. Such procurements have not been without controversy, Armament- Starongaz manufacturing of tens of thousands SR91 assault rifles since the late 50's has resulted in them the weapon of choice for separatist movements and Pariah regimes alike. Both, SAi and Armament- Starongaz themselves have been implicated in . The wave of contract cancellations caused by the global retreat of communism and floundering of the P.R.T. - aligned bloc leading the companies to sell $30 million worth of arms; including 26 Viper II trainer/ attack jets to the sanctioned El Capitanese Socialist Tropican Republic. Weapon systems which were subsequently linked to the ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Catholic Capitanese against the followers of the native Zerragotist faith during Zerragonia's bloody 4 year war for independence. The continued Maoist insurgency in neighboring your desert/ arid city (southern neighbor) and the close proximity of Great Havilland to the previous' boarder has created some debate within the foreign office whether to break tradition and deploy a peacekeeping force to to secure the Southern border against any possible spillover or incursion. Industry Starongia possesses a highly developed industrial economy, possessing significant reserves of Coal, Iron & Oil though it's metallurgy, petroleum and other heavy industries have suffered from low investment and have been in a state of stagnation since the late 1970's. The country's military industries have long made the nation self-sufficient in arms procurement, with the country manufacturing it's first battle tank; SAVi I (M 48A2 copy) in 1957 and manufacturing numerous Jet trainers/ light attack aircraft and helicopters since the foundation of SAi in 1966. Some foreign interest has been shown in the nation's arms with the VCR & U.P. Falstadt arsenals being almost entirely comprised of Starongian- manufactored arms. More recently the financial industry has significantly expanded in Great Havilland, with banks being drawn heavily to the nation's low taxes, stability and high inter connectivity with the wider world, recent political crisis' in neighboring countries have also contributed to the spike in multinational firms seeking a safer place to run commerce from. Military As a neutral state, Starongia's military is constitutionally limited to only 50'000 personnel, the vast majority of these being in the army (40'000) with the Air force and Coast Guard both possessing around 5000 each. The army is organized into a similar structure as the German Bundersheer, possessing one full- strength armored division on it's front line with the P.R.T. and two, slightly smaller infantry/ motorized brigades tasked with fulfilling basic security and peacetime duties. Both air and nautical services are extremely limited with the nation forbidden to own heavy combat boats like destroyers and the Air force being restricted to a maximum of 10 dedicated combat aircraft. Resulting in it making heavy use of domestically produced, high performance trainers which possess an attack capability sufficient enough to plug the shortfall. Cities (by Metropolitan population) Great Havilland: 1'002'900 Kaer Adagan: 527'000 Singuinius: 420'000 Amon: 389'000 =